


the intimacy of calling your homies what they least expect

by tenkaede



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Despair (Dangan Ronpa), Fluff, M/M, The rest of the cast is mentioned mostly, this isn't jokey enough to be crack taken seriously
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:08:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24354112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tenkaede/pseuds/tenkaede
Summary: Momota has this habit.(early, for saimota week's free day)
Relationships: Momota Kaito/Saihara Shuichi
Comments: 11
Kudos: 155





	the intimacy of calling your homies what they least expect

Momota Kaito has a strange kind of habit. 

It was a few weeks into their friendship until Saihara noticed, really. Or, it’s more like - he didn’t  _ not _ notice before, it was just the first time that it had happened. Perfect smiles over confident stances, Momota had always seemed like someone that bent himself into masculinity however he could. He certainly reeks enough of awful men’s deodorant for it. If not that, then maybe it was his haircut, or the goatee, or the outfit, or the way he held himself… or. Something.

Looking back on it, Saihara finds it almost hilarious that he’d thought that way. 

It’s one night after training that Momota claps him on the back, and says, with all the cheer in the world, “happy with your workout, babe?” 

In retrospect, it’s a wonder that Saihara didn’t go into cardiac arrest. 

“Wh--” He had choked, face flushing, mouth drying. Nothing on Momota’s face read that anything was wrong, nothing to indicate this was some kind of joke or trick or-- “What?” The other boy had only tilted his head at Saihara’s distress. Like some kind of big, confused puppy. “I… ‘babe’?” 

The realization crossed over Momota’s face quickly, but there was no sign of regret, or panic, or anxiety. He had chuckled, a wonderful sound, and moved his hand to Saihara’s shoulder. “Yeah! Babe! That’s what I call all my friends, y’know?”

It had taken a while, for Saihara to respond to that, gaze flickering from the ground, to Momota, to the ground, to Momota again. “You… call your friends, ‘babe’?” 

“Yeah! There a problem with that, Shuuichi?” 

“No!” Saihara had blurted, far too quickly. “I was just… ah, surprised. I don’t think I’ve heard anyone call their friends that, except maybe… popular girls.” 

Momota had echoed, “popular girls?” Like the idea hadn’t occurred to him at all. And for a moment, his mind had been blank. “Nah, this is just somethin’ I’ve picked up. Feels affectionate! And if you’re not uncomfortable with it, I’m gonna stick with it.” 

“There’s no problem,” Saihara says, and there hadn’t been. Not really. Apart from the fact he had almost felt like he was dying, there was no problem. Apart from the fact that Momota didn’t seem to care about his masculinity as much as Saihara had thought, there was no problem.

It had taken a little longer until he started doing it to everyone else.

Kiibo didn’t seem to mind. He was just happy to be included, Saihara thinks. An affectionate pet name like that was of no bother to him, and he never picked fights with Momota over it. Likewise, Yumeno, Shirogane and Yonaga didn’t seem to mind, either, though he never liked them enough to say it any more than a couple of times a month. 

Iruma, being Iruma, wilted, and bounced back with some of the dirtiest remarks Saihara had ever heard from her. Momota only used it for her once. Likewise, it had only ever been used once for Ouma, too - something that was supposed to catch him off-guard, until he came back with one hundred different baby-like nicknames for Momota that he never recovered from. 

Saihara had  _ expected _ Hoshi to mind, and was surprised to find out that he didn’t. Same with Amami, really. If anything, he seemed like he enjoyed it, and leaned more into being buddy-buddy with him after he started saying it.

The only ones who had started real fights with him for it were Chabashira and Harukawa. 

Harukawa had slapped him, face red with embarrassment, and Chabashira…

Saihara didn’t need to be a detective to figure out that his three-day absence from all school activities, when he’s usually such a workaholic, was from her. The first time that Saihara had made the mistake of touching her, she, too, had left him pain from an aikido attack so intense that he hadn’t been able to sleep. 

Momota learns who he shouldn’t say it to and learns who he should - keeps the majority of his petname affection to Saihara and Amami, and the rest for anyone that hasn’t complained, yet. Really, what Saihara had admired most was that he hadn’t been disheartened by the mixed reactions. He’d just note who didn’t like it, and keep going on strong. 

And for a long time, Saihara had loved it. Or, he’d… had a strange relationship with it, anyway. He’d never told Momota to stop, but there was always, always a second where his heart would skip a beat and his face would flush and he’d look at the hero and think…

Ah, first he’d panic over why Momota was calling him that, no matter the constant reassurance of, ‘this is what he calls his friends’. Then he’d think about how nice it would be if it  _ weren’t _ just what he calls his friends. Then he thinks about what Momota would call a  _ girl _ friend. 

Or… a boyfriend. But Momota never seemed the type, to do something like that.

Except he does. And then he confesses. And then he asks Saihara to be his boyfriend. And then Saihara says yes (of course he says yes, why wouldn’t he say yes?). 

  
And then he finds the answer out for himself. 

They’re lounging together in Momota’s dorm, when it happens, limbs tangled, television on. Momota rubs circles on Saihara’s back, nice and slow, and he thinks it’s the best feeling in the world, though he’ll never say it. He’s near close to sleeping when the sound from the television becomes white noise in his ears, and then Momota picks his head up. 

  
“Hey, Shuuichi,” he murmurs, lips brushing against his ear in a way that sends sparks down his neck. “I gotta ask you something.” 

“Mm?” Saihara doesn’t open his eyes, but he shifts to let Momota know that he’s awake. 

“Y’know, I call all my friends ‘babe’, and…” He takes a pause, and a thoughtful hum rumbles in his chest, right up against Saihara’s cheek. “I was wondering if I could take it to the next level with you.” 

Next level?

“I don’t wanna call you something that I call my friends. And… I think I know just the thing to call you, but I’ve been a little nervous to admit it. Kinda intimate.” 

“Ah… I’m listening,” Saihara says. 

There’s a pause. Then Momota clears his throat. “Can I start calling you ‘dude’?” 

**Author's Note:**

> listen its nearly midnight im early i havent proofread this i swear there was a post that posed this scenario but idk where it is, but hey. finallly contributing to saimota week. then im going back to femslash this is just a little treat and i KNOW its early but i really dont want to like. forget this lol and post it late.


End file.
